Yang Xiuyu couldn't get along with his former boss for long. So he quit the job and set up his own studio last year. Yang knows full well the demands in this era of Net entertainment, and looks for attractive cyberspace projects that everybody can take part in, such as the "paperclip for house show".

"These events entertain people and give companies an opportunity to promote their products, and often a cyber star is born as a by-product," he says. Official figures show that by the end of last year China had 137 million Internet users; they would increase to 200 million by 2010. The cyber world has become crucial for enterprises that want to promote their products and for gold diggers, such as Ai Qingqing or the "Fairy Girl". And if events on the Net are big or interesting enough, they are bound to draw the traditional media.

Net surfing has become an integral part of journalism today, says Jin Lingyun, a senior editor with the Beijing Times, which covered the "paperclip for house show" along with a large section of the media, including China Central Television (CCTV) and Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television. "When we choose news from the Net, however, our rules state that the event must really have happened and the identities of the main figures are clear."

Jin initially doubted the authenticity of the "paperclip for house show", but many other media had already run stories on it. "If we hadn't reported it while our competitors were doing so, we would have lost some of our readers," Jin says.

Soon newspapers and TV channels were competing with each other to establish Ai's fame. But in the end, they woke up to the fact that they had been hoodwinked. "What has happened will harm our newspaper's reputation even if, in the end, we did help readers realize that the whole thing was a con job."

When Jin and his colleagues reviewed the episode, they realized that they had failed to follow their own rules. "We did not establish the identities of the people who were exchanging the goods with the girl." Working against deadline made it difficult for his news team to check out each character of the play individually, he says.

Chen Changfeng, a professor with the Peking University's School of Journalism and Communications, says the episode reflects the fierce market competition. "The media need advertising revenue and to attract advertisers they must have sufficient readers and viewers. Which means they are always on the lookout for eye-catching news. Cyber promoters capitalize on this."

Earlier cyber stars some of whom achieved international fame, such as "Sister Lotus", the lip synching boys and "Little Fatty", were boosted by different teams of cyber promoters. "Behind such cyber-stars are clever hands that can manipulate the market, lure common people with dreams of fame, tempt advertisers into promoting their clients and seduce the media into gullibility." The media should have a general set of rules on self-discipline and stick to professional journalism, she says.

Jin Lingyun believes the traditional media will be much more careful in the future in dealing with Internet news.

But Yang Xiuyu is unrepentant, and says he would continue to target the Internet market. "The traditional media will get trapped again. You know, anyone can become a promoter and create a story on the Internet," he says with a grin.

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